babysit

English

Alternative forms

baby-sit

Etymology

Back-formation from babysitter.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbeɪbi:.sɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

babysit (third-person singular simple present babysits, present participle babysitting, simple past and past participle babysat)

1. To watch or tend someone else's child for a period of time, often for money.

   My daughter is babysitting for the Morgans at number ten, who are going out on a date night.

   We need someone to babysit our children while we go to the theater.

   • 2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, The Onion AV Club:

     Bart eventually gets Laura to babysit while Homer and Marge eat at the Sea Captain’s all-you-can-eat seafood joint, The Frying Dutchman.

2. To watch or attend anything or anyone unnecessarily closely; to have to help or coax too much.

   He left me to babysit the new guy while he got some work done.

Related terms

• babysitter

Translations

To watch or tend someone else's child for a period of time, often for money

• Arabic: يجالس (ar)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 代人照看孩子 (cmn) (dàirén zhàokàn háizi), 照看嬰兒 (cmn), 照看婴儿 (cmn) (zhàokàn yīngér)

• Czech: hlídat děti
• Dutch: babysitten (nl), kinderen passen
• Finnish: olla lapsenvahtina, olla lapsenlikkana
• French: faire du baby-sitting
• German: babysitten (de)
• Hebrew: שמירטף (he) (shmirtéf)

• Hungarian: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: fare da babysitter
• Japanese: 子守する (ja) (こもりする, komori suru)
• Jèrriais: garder
• Portuguese: pajear (pt)
• Russian: няньчиться (ru) (njánʹčitʹsja) , сидеть с ребёнком / с детьми (sidétʹ s rebjónkom / s detʹmí)
• Spanish: cuidar de los niños, hacer de canguro (es)
• Swedish: sitta barnvakt
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

To watch or attend anything or anyone unnecessarily closely

• Dutch: nauwgelet begeleiden

• Russian: няньчиться (ru) (njánʹčitʹsja) 

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Icelandic: gæta krakka